The Unexpected Storm

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  She couldn’t take her eyes off the truck. It was her only vehicle, her dad’s vehicle, and he’d left it for her. Damn him, Neil was right. She stared at the shards of steel and chunks of roof sticking up out of the sand, embedded in trees. She wasn’t thinking clearly, but she was pretty sure she’d lost everything.

  “Candy, this is just stuff. It can be replaced.”

  She knew he was trying to reason with her, but he had loads of money and could replace anything he wanted, whereas she couldn’t. Couldn’t he understand that? She didn’t have much, but what she had was hers, and just looking at the debris had something painful stabbing her heart. She’d swear she could feel the warm blood oozing out. It was awful, it was horrible.

  Neil slid his arm around her waist as if he sensed her need to bolt, to run and dig through the debris to find what was hers. He was holding her back.

  “Come on, Candy.” He started pulling her with him, away from her truck, away from the hunks of debris. “Candy, the weather is good now, but I don’t want to chance being out in this for very long, not with this guy.”

  She couldn’t answer him, but she did take his hand again and walked for what felt like another half hour until she could hear the waves crashing into the shore. She could smell the saltwater that had revitalized her and been her friend and companion for so many years, and she recognized the opening where the sun, the blue sky, and the water met. Then she froze, as if both her legs were large tree trunks suddenly rooted to the ground, and stared at the devastation. A window, a wall, and a bed frame were piled and buried, standing end on end in heaps. She’d have to sort through it all just to figure out what was what. The ocean had always been such a comfort, a place she spent time every single day staring out into the magic, the power. Now the ocean had shown Candy the true power of what it could do, leaving its ugly mark, taking everything her father had built, everything he’d left for her, and destroying all of it.

  “My house is gone.” She said it so matter-of-factly, but there was nothing left, just this land, this property. There was no insurance, no security, no assets, just a mountain of debt.

  “We’ll clear everything out of here. I’ll take care of it, Candy,” Neil said as he rubbed her arm with his hand, which had comforted her and held her through the storm.

  She turned on him, jamming her hands in her hair. “What do you mean, you’ll take care of everything? I can’t rebuild my house. This was my place. It may not be much to you, but it’s all I had. I’ve got nothing left, I have no money, I can’t afford this. You can, with all your millions. This is nothing to you. I can’t do this. It’s gone now, my place, and it would be so easy for you now to get your hands on this property you’ve wanted for so long, to build your fancy resort and erase everything of me and mine away as if it were nothing!” she cried. She watched as his jaw stiffened, and she was breathing so heavily, every part of her shaking as she had one of those moments, in those few seconds after screaming out at him, those horrible, god-awful things, where she wished she could take it back. At the same time, she wanted to know what he was really thinking. She prayed in that second that he’d changed and that none of this was about his fancy resort.

  As her heart pounded, she waited for him to touch her and tell her it was all a misunderstanding, that he didn’t want his resort, that this was about her. She waited for his reassurance, and then his expression hardened. Even Ambrose took a step toward Neil and leaned against his leg, but Candy didn’t. In fact, she stepped farther away from him. Her head was still travelling down that out-of-control road of accusations. Just say it, Neil. Please, just say it, she willed him. Please. But he didn’t say a word, and that had her heart taking a nosedive, because now it would be so easy for him to get his resort. He would just have to wait for the foreclosure. She was so far behind, and now with this, and her horses, she felt as if everything that defined who she was had just been ripped away from her.

  “Candy, I understand you’re upset, but getting mad at me is not going to solve anything. You already knew you were in trouble and so far in arrears on the mortgage that Stella couldn’t float you anymore. You were so desperate you even went to Francisco, offering him a piece of this place just to stay afloat. He’s got squat, and you were ready to settle for very little instead of coming to me. Then you were trying to sell your horses to take care of some of the back payments. What the hell were you going to do? How were you going to eat, look after yourself? Tell me, because I really want to know. You were done, Candy. You and I both know it. Maybe it’s better this way, less painful. It’s over, it’s gone. You can move on. We’ll start a new life, a new beginning.”

  She couldn’t believe the way he spoke to her. His expression was dark, and his light amber eyes sparked as if fireworks had been set off in them. She could even feel the way he held himself rigid, his muscles tightening, but it was what he had said that had her head spinning, and it took her a minute before she understood: He knew things about her that he shouldn’t. He expected her to just walk away from this, hand it over to him. Did he not even expect to pay for it?

  “You know I’m in arrears. How would you know that unless Stella...”

  His expression didn’t change, but he did press his lips together as if he were holding on to everything, his secrets. Maybe all the caring he’d shown toward her had been a lie.

  “You expect to have this now, don’t you? Build your fancy resort, do whatever you want, toss me away. What was this, showing up here, rescuing me, showing me you’re this wonderful guy, making me fall for you and then tossing me away as if I’m nothing? It really is a game to you. My father said to watch out for you, that you were only interested in power and getting everything, land, property, putting together your million-dollar deals. He said you’d do anything to get your hands on this place, my place, that you would toss me away as if I were nothing. You killed my father! I can’t believe I was so stupid to believe that you came for me because you cared for me. It would have been smarter to just not show up and hope the storm claimed another victim: me. Then you could have just taken everything.” Her hands were shaking as she pressed them to her head to sweep back her hair, but nothing would stop the agony that had her head, her face, her eyes, her heart, and everything vital inside her aching. For only one second, she actually considered walking into that ocean and not coming out. She couldn’t think, because her reasonable mind was drowned out by the most unbearable hurt, that of having lost his love.

  He stepped forward, dropping the rope, and grabbed both her arms. As he held her, she could feel his urge to shake her. “Don’t you ever, ever say something so horrible, as if I’d ever consider walking away and leaving you to die. I didn’t leave you here! I came for you as I’d do for anyone. Maybe it’s time you hear this: I did not kill your father, and he doesn’t deserve to be on that pedestal you’ve stuck him on. Your father owed people money, bad people, lots of people. He left a trail of debt everywhere. He gambled, he drank. I didn’t kill him—your father drank himself to death. You can bet I offered to buy this place. I asked him many times, but what I offered wouldn’t have been enough for him. He turned me down because I knew who he was, and so did the people he ripped off. He was greedy. You ever wonder why you left Detroit, why he moved you here? Because he was hiding here. I listened. I knew. Your father wasn’t as discreet as he should have been, so he was found, and he knew he was found. He tried to sell you to me.”

  She slapped him so hard that his face was red with the imprint of her hand. She reacted on instinct because she couldn’t believe he would say those things about her father. Randy had taken her and moved here for a better life. He’d protected her from Neil. He’d told her to stay away from Neil, that he’d break her heart into a million pieces, that he was all about money and power and once he had her, he’d throw her away. Her father had looked out for her. Of course he did. So why would Neil make up these vicious lies? “You’re a liar! My father loved me.”

  His expression change
d to something distant. She couldn’t figure out what he was thinking and why he was saying these things to her. After the way he held her, why would he make up such lies about her father? Why? It was automatic: Her arms crossed in front of her as she stepped back, away from him, and she could feel the doors to her heart shutting.

  “Candy, your father wanted a piece of the Friessens. He wanted a share in the resort, in what we were doing, and he was willing to let me have you. He said he would see to it that you came to me willingly, and I could have you as mine. If we refused, he said he’d see to it that I’d never have you. I never knew what he meant, but by the way you looked at me, talked to me, I knew you hated me, and I realized your father had his hand in it. You even said as much. Whatever your father said about me wasn’t true. I think you know that deep down, if you’re honest with yourself. I’ve never taken anything from anyone. I don’t take advantage of the innocent, and that’s exactly what you are, an innocent. I’ve never in my life taken advantage of someone. I know you know this, Candy, which is why I didn’t make any deal with your father. You were inexperienced, and he was using you as if you were some commodity, not his daughter, who he should have treasured and protected.” He was getting louder and right in her face.

  “Are you telling me you didn’t want this place and weren’t willing to do everything in your power to get it?” She couldn’t believe him, and she was so angry. She wanted to hit him, to throw something at him and make him hurt just like she was.

  “Don’t start putting words in my mouth, Candy. It sounds like a lot has been put into your head about me. I want you, and I want this resort. We can have it all together, you and me.”

  She couldn’t believe he had said that to her. She backed away from him, tears glossing her eyes, and then stumbled backwards, falling over something that stuck out of the ground. She stared at a broken piece of her shattered china that she loved so much: Friendly Village. It had been her dream, her fantasy, ever since she was a child, to belong to such a fairytale place. She’d spent everything she had over the years to collect every piece in that collection. It was her dream community, where she could belong, with a loving family, children. As she stared at the shattered chunk of her dream, she felt as if she were holding a piece of her heart. There was nothing else to hope for.

  “Candy, are you all right?” Neil crouched down beside her, not touching her this time.

  She stood up, brushed off the borrowed skirt, and started walking away.

  Chapter 16

  Neil couldn’t believe what he had said to her, and he couldn’t believe he was watching her walk away. This was not how he had pictured things going. He thought they were way past the hating, the arguing, the fighting. Of course she was hurt. Look at the devastation of where her home had been! She’d lost everything. It would be easier for him, with all of this and the way it had happened, and she didn’t trust him.

  He spit on the ground, and the donkey stepped away but Neil didn’t let go of the rope. He needed to give Candy a minute to cool down, some space to get her head together. Then she’d see he was right. But his head was still spinning from what she’d said. Her father, Randy, had been such a first-class prick. He’d always been shady, and something hadn’t been quite right with his charter business. Everyone knew he wasn’t just taking out tourists; he was running things, illegal things, and Neil and his dad had always thought he was moving drugs. Stella had said it was guns, while others had said it was anything that would make him money. Candy obviously hadn’t had a clue, but that weasel had wanted more and more, and when Neil approached him to buy him out, Randy had wanted a partnership, a corner office, and his name attached to the Friessens’. That was something Neil wouldn’t have, but Randy said he’d hold out, and with the threats he made to Neil, saying that Candy would never have anything to do with him, well...it turned out that Randy had fulfilled that promise in full, and Neil hated him for it. It was too bad he was already dead, because Neil would have loved to knock him around a bit.

  Why couldn’t Candy see the truth? He glanced up at the blue sky and then listened to the unsettled ocean as her waves crashed again and again. It was time to move, but when he looked up, Candy was gone. “Candy!” he shouted and then listened, but he couldn’t hear a thing. “Come on, Ambrose.” He pulled the donkey along with him, skirting piles and headed in the direction he’d seen Candy walk. Why the hell had he taken his eyes off her? “Candy, where are you?” Again there was no answer. “Shit!” he shouted, and he picked up the donkey and started running in the direction she had gone.

  Chapter 17

  Candy could hear Neil calling her. She staggered as she ran, pushing herself through the pinching and aching from her wound. In that moment, she was thankful for the hurt, for the burning discomfort, because it helped to keep her focused and cleared away her desire to turn around and run back to Neil. Right now, getting as far from Neil as possible was what she needed to do, even though she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing freely down her face. Her eyes burned, and she was slapping at the bugs that landed on her, biting her faster than she could move. She didn’t know where she was going. All she knew was that she couldn’t be near Neil, she couldn’t go with him, because the fact was that he’d won.

  She wouldn’t be able to save this place unless the sky opened up and decided to dump a ton of money on her. She was out of breath when she stumbled and leaned against a palm that was leaning a bit but still standing, and she spotted the rotted-out metal hull of the one boat her father hadn’t been able to sell. She remembered the day her dad said the boats were gone, his business was gone, and that it was all because of Neil Friessen, a man with a plan, who was responsible for Randy McCrae losing all his business. All the customers were going elsewhere. He’d been drunk again when he said it, but he’d warned Candy that Neil wanted this place and that not having it was costing him millions a day. Randy had said he was the only one standing in the way of the Friessens having their million-dollar resort, and Neil was determined to get it for nothing.

  “He wants you, Candy McCrae, and he’ll ask you out, chase you, be persistent, and show you all his charm. But you’re just smart enough to not be used by the likes of him.” She remembered her father telling her this, and it had hurt more than anything to have to listen to what he said. She didn’t want to be used by anyone, let alone a man she couldn’t help but be attracted to. Then he’d said, “You’re nothing but eye candy to him, something to have fun with, a warm body he’ll use until he gets what he wants, which is this place, and then he’ll toss you away.” She remembered all of it so clearly. Her father wouldn’t lie to her, so why had Neil said such awful things about him?

  Yes, her father drank, he always had, and Candy had always cleaned up after him. Every morning, she had picked up all the empties, stacked them in the shed, cleaned up the puke, his dirty laundry. She had cooked and cleaned for him. She had done everything for her father, and he still left her, choosing booze to solve his problems, problems that Neil had created. He drank himself to death, leaving her this place that she had struggled to hold on to for so long, along with a mountain of debt. None of this made any sense. Why had Neil come for her during the storm, rescuing her and Ambrose and caring for them? She knew Neil still wanted this place, and as she cried and started running again, the reality hit her that the place was now as good as his. He had most likely made a deal with Stella, who she thought was her friend, and he would most likely be able to pick it up for a dime, so she better figure out what she wanted. Money? No, it was never about money. She wanted her place. She wanted to be loved. But she wanted to kick herself, too, for allowing herself to dream of cuddling, hugs, lots of love, family, and something deep and meaningful with Neil. All she’d done was splinter her heart into a million pieces by dropping her guard and letting him in.

  She heard an odd scream, and it took her a moment to realize it was a horse. Then she heard it again, and the sound sent a chill racing up her spine. Her legs started
trembling, and she had to force her feet to move as she raced down a path that was completely unrecognizable. Then she saw him, Sable, his head poking through branches, what appeared to be dried blood on his shoulder and forehead. She didn’t see the other horses, but she didn’t miss his wild-eyed look. The whites of his eyes were flashing, and he was snorting. With each step she took toward him, he seemed to become panicked and started yanking on the branches as if he’d been trapped forever.

  “Whoa, Sable, easy, boy.” She held her hand out and walked slowly, but her entire arm was trembling from the sight of him. She could smell the rotted vegetation, her own sweat, and wondered what he was picking up from her. She’d had her entire world tipped upside down and yanked away from her all in one day. She wasn’t the same Candy, and maybe that was what he was sensing. Whatever it was, she didn’t know what to do to calm him, and, for the first time, she was terrified of her horse.

  “Candy!”

  Candy jumped. Her heart squeezed in her chest when she spotted Neil about ten feet behind her, carrying her donkey. His entire expression was one of absolute fury.

  “Don’t go near him! What the hell’s the matter with you?” He was yelling at her again.

  “He’s my horse. I’m going to help him. I don’t need your help!” she shouted back. She was angry and hurt, and she wanted to hurt him with the same agony that had ripped through every part of her. “I know how to look after my horse. Go away,” she said, really trying to mean it, though she ached, too, for his strong arms to hold her, wanting that loving feeling again. She also knew she had to walk away, because this man had hurt her so badly that all of her sound reasoning and common sense had disappeared. She wanted to scream and scream and react, but that wouldn’t change the reality.